Went to the Indranet briefing at the Heritage Hotel at 6pm. Dr Louis Arnoux gave his expert opinion on the current situation from a very broad perspective (his background is the analysis of Complex Systems), encompassing the Financial Crisis and how it is entwined with Peak Oil and the so called Energy crisis (zero net energy by 2018 apparently, which you hardly ever hear about in the media) and the Ecological Crisis (global warming, and concommittant ecological collapse which he compared to the Permian Mass Extinction also known as The Great Dying). He has a compelling viewpoint and obviously has done a vast amount of research and thinking over the years, although I thought there was an element of spin to promote his ventures/products. The audience were highly attentive for an hour and a half as Louis sought to move his shareholders from "myth to reality".
One strong theme was that we as a civilization can ill afford to sit around waiting for Governments and big business or the Kyoto Protocol or Emissions Trading Schemes and so forth to do anything significant in time to beat the looming deadline of Zero Net Energy. Governments and big business do not want to acknowledge that the situation we face is no longer Business As Usual (or BAU - Dr Arnoux has a fondness for acronyms). He believes there has been and remains a widespread "disconnect" from the reality of what humanity are facing. The media is still amplifying the message from Governments that this is just a recession and soon we will be back to BAU as soon as the recovery occurs, while minimising serious environmental and structural issues. Dr Arnoux's opinion is that it will be individuals and entrepeneurs who will lead the change to a "100% Solar sustainable future" and that there will not be, nor can there be, a return to BAU. Dr Arnoux has shown that he has the connections, inventions and vision to back up his words. I had nearly written Indranet and the likes off over the years when nothing concrete seemed to be emerging from them but I now have a renewed confidence that they are on track. I will download his free e-book "Peak Oil, Climate Change & all that Jazz" soon (not sure about the title though).
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